Chris and I certainly had our priorities straight when we arrived in Prague, the last stop on our Central Europe trip – I had signed us up for Eating Prague’s newest tour, Brews and Views, on our first full day in the capital city. I figured it would be the best way to get introduced to the lay of the land and the best of the beers, and I was right! Brews and views abound, we worked our way through Prague drinking Czech beers, learning about Czech beer culture, snacking on delicious food pairings, and taking in some of the most gorgeous views across the city.
We started out with a beautiful walk across the river and up to Letna Park which overlooks the Old Town side of Prague. We met our awesome and super knowledgeable guide, Jan, and the rest of our group for a Gambrinus in the park. It doesn’t get better than beer and fresh air in a park overlooking one of the most stunning city views.
(Hey America, please take note – drinking a beer outside in a setting as lovely as Letna Park is a truly wonderful thing. Let’s adopt this drinking outdoors policy!)
I don’t want to give away all the tour’s secrets and actually I couldn’t even if I wanted to – each of the stops is depending on the availability and the schedule for the day – but Jan showed us an amazing array of hidden gems off the beaten path. We hit up several bars, restaurants, pubs, and nooks that we probably wouldn’t have discovered on our own.
As for the star of the show, the beer, we tasted everything from light beers, reds, IPAs, dark stouts, and pilsners. Chris and I tend to get a little nerdy with our beer tasting and we typically take notes and rate them via the Untapped app, but on this tour we sat back and let Jan tell us about each beer and we simply enjoyed the drinks and the company.
Off the top of my head, I remember the Gambrinus, the Bernard red lager, and a citrusy IPA at T-Anker to name a few. There were about eight or so additional tastings after that, and a lot of these were full glasses, so I hope you’ll forgive me for not remembering the name of every single beer. You’ll just have to go on the tour for yourself!
Not only did we sample so many of Prague’s finest beers, we also learned about beer-food pairings. I definitely recommend coming on this tour with an appetite! We expected a snack here and there as indicated in the description, but we didn’t expect being able to skip dinner that evening because we were full and happy from all the tasty food on the tour. Not pictured: the bun-wrapped sausage that was so delicious Chris and I went back the next day to get another one.
In addition to the beer, the food, and a fantastic guide, part of what made the tour was the company. You automatically have something very specific in common with the other members of the tour, a love for beer, so it’s easy to bond over the course of the 3.5 hours (or in our case, 6 hours, since a bunch of us hung around together after the tour ended).
This was hands-down one of the best tours we’ve ever been on, and I can’t recommend it enough. Tickets were 65 euros each and that included all of the generous pours and a copious amount of snacks throughout the afternoon. (Seriously, don’t eat a big meal right before you show up for this tour!) Tours run Tuesday through Saturday at 2:30pm. We ended up walking approximately 2 miles/3.2 km or so, and it was at a leisurely pace. Sometimes we even got to walk around with a beer.
Up next, we dedicated a day to the Old Town side of Prague and then a day to the Mala Strana side. Stay tuned for those two posts!
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